


Frozen in Time

by OC_Femslash



Series: Frozen Memories [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Elemental Magic, Follows TV Plot, Ice Powers, Magic, Magic Haters, Magic-Users, Magical Accidents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-06-26 01:33:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19757866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OC_Femslash/pseuds/OC_Femslash
Summary: Eirwen is the daughter of Rumplestiltskin. Elsa is the Mills nanny. The curse split her from her life, but her new life is pulled in too many directions for her to find her way.





	Frozen in Time

"Once Upon A Time  
There was an enchanted forest filled with all the classic characters we know.  
Or think we know.  
One day they found themselves trapped in a place where all their happy endings were stolen.  
Our World.  
This is how it happened."

A young [woman](http://movie.info/actor/Tilda_Swinton_4.jpg) walked through a woods. She lifted her skirt as she stepped over a gap in the creek the was crossing. She placed her booted foot on a rock. Lifting her [dress](https://www.bcbg.com/dw/image/v2/AAXX_PRD/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-bcbg-site-catalog/default/dw8d256b56/images/large/LMQ69I30_5N2_a.jpg?sw=1268&sh=1992&sm=fit), she brought her other foot to stand beside it. She stepped on another until she was on the other side and she climbed as high as she could until she reached the top of a mountain. She looked down at her home, breathing slightly heavier than usual. She really needed to learn how to teleport. She started back down the mountain, marching toward the Dark Castle. She cursed as her foot got caught in a hole and she had to slow down drastically to remove it. Hissing, she pulled her foot from the burrow and continued on her way. She made it inside and went up the large stairs and snooped through the cabinet. The glass in the door had been broken. She reached in, without opening the door, and picked up a crystal ball. She reached to where it was and lifted the parchment. She got on her toes, though it didn't give her much more height since she was already wearing heels, and reached up. On the top shelf, there was a cockle shell just a hair out of reach. She stretched her arm even further and she managed to get her fingers on it long enough to force it toward herself. She caught it when it fell from the shelf and she walked upstairs to the desk. Grabbing the quill, she left the castle.

* * *

It was late at night. Around 9.

The same young [girl](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9IrcVyLNifw/Vd-A0W2q_XI/AAAAAAAAHvQ/qNPyxC4Q4YQ/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/Tilda.Swinton.09.1992_01.jpg), practically unaged, sat at a table with a older man and woman. The man was dressing in a police uniform. They were answering his questions about a missing boy. Her hair had grown in this era and she was much more stoic. She placed her hand on the woman's arm. "Henry is resourceful. He'll be fine," she comforted the woman.

"Elsa, when did you last see Henry?" the sheriff asked.

"Well, I dropped him off here and watched him go inside around... 6?" she guessed, shrugging. "It must've been just after because that's always when I bring him back."

"We will find him, Madam Mayor," the sheriff added.

* * *

In a tunnel which led to a cell, the woman from before handed the parchment, shell, and quill to a scaly lizard of a man. He giggled. "Thank you, Eirwen." He hid them in a little compartment when a rock moved to almost cover itself from outsider's eyes. He walked back to the bars and climbed up to the "ceiling" which was just more rock.

The blonde looked up at where he'd vanished, smiling and shaking her head good-naturedly. Tilting her head, Eira listened far behind them. "The loud guard is bringing guests," she reported softly.

Said loud, yet nameless guard escorted two cloaked people to the cell. "Rumplestiltskin. Rumplestiltskin!" he yelled.

"For the 50 millionth time," Eira groaned, "stop shouting!"

The guard ignored her. "I have a question for you," he yelled.

Eira rolled her eyes.

Rumple climbed down the bars upside-down. "No, you don't." He held onto the bars and let himself twist to fall. "They do." He stood normal and held out his arms. "Snow White—and Prince "Charming"!" he sang. He cackled at how the stupid humans thought he didn't know who they were. He had seen the queen's threat. "You insult me. Step into the light, and take off those ridiculous robes." When they complied, he laughed again. "That's much better," he stated.

"We've come to ask you-" the prince started.

Eira rolled her eyes. "We know!" she stated in a normal voice tone. But she was usually so quiet so this was her version of yelling.

"Yes, yes! You want to know about the Queen's threat," Rumple continued.

"Tell us what you know," Snow ordered.

Eira chuckled. "He's been imprisoned, thanks to you, for a while now. It'll take a bit more than a stern voice from the princess he helped to save to scare him."

Prince Charming brought out his blade and placed it to the blonde's throat. "Maybe this will scare him."

Eira rolled her eyes. He was so boring! "He taught you magic himself. I can beat Regina in a duel. You had to cheat your way into safety." She removed her glove and reached up to grab the blade between her index finger and thumb. It froze. The whole thing, but it stopped at the handle. She didn't want him dead, after all. The humans could never kill her when she tried to fight them, but she didn't feel like fighting her whole life. Grabbing the frozen blade in her fist, she felt it give way like frost. "Rumplestiltskin will help you with your witchy little problem. But you know it'll gonna cost you."

Charming growled. He was sick of their games. Heroes helped people just to help them. "No. This is a waste of time." He yanked his sword from her grasp and the whole thing fell like snow. Only the handle was intact.

Snow stepped closer to the imp. "What do you want?" she asked desperately.

Rumplestiltskin pretended to think. "Oh..." He made his face look like he just thought of his price. "The name of your unborn child?" he settled.

"Absolutely not!" Charming yelled.

"Deal! What do you know?" Snow overrode her husband.

Rumplestiltskin smiled at her. He loved the desperate ones. "Ah. The Queen has created a powerful curse. And it's coming. Soon you'll all be in a prison," he glanced around his cell, making his voice higher pitched, "just like me, only worse!" He made his voice normal again. "For your prison--all of our prisons—will be time. For time will stop. And we will be trapped, someplace horrible, where everything we hold dear, everything we love," was Eira mistaken or did Rumple glance at her briefly, "will be ripped from us while we suffer for all eternity, while the Queen celebrates," he raised himself up a bit and flourished his hand, "victorious at last! ...No more happy endings," he finished seriously.

Snow stepped even closer. "What can we do?"

"We can't do anything!" Rumple sang, flaring his hand a bit more.

Snow twisted her head the tiniest bit. "Who can?" she asked softly.

Rumple reached down through his bars, grazing the cloth of her dress. "That little thing. Growing inside your belly."

Charming hit the imp's hand with the hilt of his useless sword. "Next time, it'll be your face that gets hit," he snapped. 

Rumplestiltskin looked mildly offended after hissing and retracting his hand. He looked at Charming and clocked his tongue a few times. "The infant is our only hope." He turned to Snow. "Get the child to safety." He climbed up his cage a bit. "Get the child to safety and on its-" his face scrunched up in concentration- "twenty-eighth birthday, the child will return. The child will find you—and the final battle will begin!" His eyes went wide and he cackled insanely. 

"I've heard enough. We're leaving." Charming grabbed Snow and lead her away. 

Rumple was still laughing like the madman he was. 

Eira frowned. "Hey! You had a deal!" she called. 

Rumple remembered and let out a deranged shout. "Hey! We made a deal! I want her name! We had a deal—I. Need. Her. Name! I want her name!" he yelled the last bit with a demonic tremble. 

""Her"?" Charming asked. "It's a boy," he expressed his wishes. 

"Missy, missy," Rumple sang, "you know I'm right. Tell me. What's her name?" 

Snow turned long enough to gently call, "Emma. Her name is Emma." before continuing on their path. 

"Emma," Rumple whispered. 

Once the group was gone, Eira watched their torch's light vanish. She pulled out the parchment from earlier and the cockle shell. She lifted the shell. "Squid ink," she said, handing the object to him. She held the quill and the parchment through the bars. 

* * *

The three adults still sat in the dining room. Elsa held up her hand. She frowned, going back to the resumed conversation. She'd though she'd heard an engine. A few seconds later, she definitely heard the metal gate creaking. "Someone's here," she announced. 

Regina ran to the door and flung it open. "Henry?" she called. She ran over to him and gave him a great big hug. "Oh, Henry. Are you okay?" She pulled back to experience her next emotion after relief: intense worry. "Where have you been?" She stood, glancing at the blonde woman who had obviously brought him home. "What happened?" she asked Henry. 

"I found my real mom!" Henry yelled, running through her arms and around Elsa and Sheriff Graham. He ran upstairs to him room. 

Regina turned to Emma. "You're Henry's birth mother?"

"Hi," Emma tried. 

"I'll.. just.. go check the lad, make sure he's okay." And the sheriff went upstairs after Henry. 

Elsa turned to Regina, placing her hand on the woman's bicep. "And I should go home."

Regina nodded. "Thank you for staying with me."

"Of course!" She smiled. She walked toward her car, digging through her purse. As she passed Emma, she muttered, "Don't drink the cider. You'll never get home." 

"Huh?" Emma asked. 

"Nothing," Elsa replied innocently, rising from her purse for a second. She gave Emma a smile before getting to her [car](https://3dexport.com/items/2018/02/06/493989/209365/old_car_3d_model_c4d_max_obj_fbx_ma_lwo_3ds_3dm_stl_2207720_o.jpg). 

* * *

The next morning, at 5:30 on the dot, Elsa used her own set of keys to get in the Mills house. She went up the stairs to ensure the kid was awake and found the bed empty. "Madam mayor!" she yelled. She left the room and met Regina on the stairs. "Henry's not in his bed. It's made so I don't even know if he spent the night." 

The two of them went to the Sheriff Department and Regina started yelling, "Graham? Henry's run away again, we have to-" As the couple of women entered the room, they saw Emma. "What is she doing here?" Regina asked surprisingly gently. She turned to the blonde. "Do you know where he is?" she asked - ahem - firmly.

"Lady, I haven't seen him since I dropped him at your house," Emma groaned. 

Elsa looked her up and down. "I'd say her alibi checks out," she giggled.

"Yeah, well, he wasn't in his room this morning," Regina added. 

"I go to their house every morning to make sure he's awake and to walk him to school or his bus, whichever he prefers." Elsa couldn't tell why she was giving this woman information of, well, her son. 

"Did you try his friends?" Emma asked. 

"He doesn't really have any. He's kind of a loner." Regina was obviously willing to be nice and cooperate when it came to Henry. Considering how gently she was speaking. 

Emma looked down contemplatively, probably comparing the two of them. "Every kid has friends. Did you check his computer? If he was close to someone he'd be emailing them."

"And you know this how?" Regina asked. 

Emma put her chin on a horrizontal bar in front of her face and her arms through the ones a little farther away. "Finding people's what I do. Here's an idea; how 'bout you guys let me out, and I'll help you find him," she added hopefully. 

* * *

In Henry's bedroom Emma and Graham were on Henry's computer. Regina was fiddling with the keepsakes around his room. Elsa stood behind the former. 

"Smart kid," Emma commented. "Cleared his inbox. I'm smart too," she pulled out rod thingy on her key chain, "a little hard disk recovery utility I like to use."

"I'm a bit more old-fashioned, in my techniques. Pounding the pavement, knocking on doors, that sort of thing," Sheriff Graham compared notes with Emma. 

"You're on salary; I get paid for delivery. Pounding pavement is not a luxury that I get. Ah, there's a receipt for a website, whosyourmomma.org."

Regina heard this and walked over to see the computer screen. 

"It's expensive. He has a credit card?"

Regina scoffed. "He's ten," she snapped in her 'get real' voice.

"Well, he used one." She pulled up the transaction record. "Mary Margaret Blanchard, who's Mary Margaret Blanchard?" 

Regina scowled. 

Elsa tilted her head. "Henry's teacher," she explained softly. She winced, lifting her arm to check her watch. "Dammit!" she hissed. She looked at Regina, her eyes pleading. "I'm so sorry. I have work!" she exclaimed.

The rage on Regina's face melted off. "I understand." She nodded. "Go. We'll handle this."

"Let me know if you find him!" she requested, running out the room.

* * *

Elsa smiled as she walked into Mr. Gold's Pawnshop. She greeted her boss who treated her like family. They both had strange accents, another reason why they were so close. They both sounded Irish. As the woman swept, she 

Elsa checked her phone for the millionth time in two minutes.

Mr. Gold looked at her and chuckled. "I don't see why you don't upgrade that fossil," the Irishman said.

"I like being able to hang up instantly. With a smart phone, I have to pull the phone away from my face, hope it lights up when it senses it's away from me, and press the button. This is just easier."

* * *

Sitting in front of her dad's cell bars, Eirwen felt the dark magic rising in victory. It made the hair on her arms raise and sent a shiver though her. And nothing ever made her cold. 

Eirwen turned to Rumple, placing her hand over his. "We will find your son!" she vowed.

* * *

Back in Storybrooke, Elsa was cleaning the counter when her phone went off. She pulled it from her pocket and checked the ID. It was Regina. With a tentative smile, she answered it. "Mayor Mills," she greeted.

"Henry's safe," filtered through the old phone. 

Elsa smiled. "I'm glad. I'll see you at five thirty tomorrow." 

And the next day, the main clock would ring, waking her at five on the dot. 


End file.
